Investors staying away from Greek paper
The deterioration of the investment climate in emerging markets, along with the still fragile picture in Greece, despite its exit from the bailout program, and talk of government handouts ahead of the Thessaloniki International Fair are driving investors away from Greek securities, with bond yields climbing to three-month highs on Wednesday.
Analysts say the shallow bond and stock markets in Greece make them more vulnerable to external shocks, adding that the country risk has increased considerably, taking Greek securities off investors’ radars and keeping Greece out of the money markets.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year sovereign bond climbed 2 percent yesterday to 4.60 percentage points – the highest since June – on its sixth consecutive day of growth, a sequence unseen since November 2017. In just one week the distance in basis points between the Greek bond’s yield and that on the German 10-year bund, known as the Greek spread, has reached up to 420 bps, adding 47 bps in just one week. This serves to highlight the position of investors toward Greece.
Likewise the five-year bond saw its yield rise 1.97 percent on Wednesday to 3.615 percentage points, the highest since mid-June, and the seven-year debt reached a yield rate of 4.22 percent.
